“Top Secret” Photo Assignment

In his blog, photographer Andrew Hetherington recounts the story of getting a photo of notorious paparazzo Ron Galella–paparazzi-style–for a “top secret” assignment for the AARP Bulletin feature called “Where Are They Now?” After staking out his house, Hetherington tails him in his car and pounces at a photo lab. Galella, 78, said he was impressed by the ambush, but was aware he was around the whole time (if not knowing why). Surprisingly though, Galella tells AARP, he likes being photographed.

Smash His Camera, a documentary on Galella’s distinction as the godfather of paparazzo, stalking the likes of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Marlon Brando, debuted at Sundance this year. His photos of Jackie O. in the 70s are among the most iconic, right up there with the White House years.

Galella calls the current paparazzi “gangbangers.” (But don’t we always think our way of doing things as more refined, when in all actuality Jackie O. felt just as terrorized as modern-day celebrities with him around.) Still, he says the most photos he took of her in a single year was 20. It seems quaint, doesn’t it?